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BRAVE Blog

Old Tools, New Tricks: 4 Polyglot-friendly Features

You probably know and love the feeling of discovering something new and useful in your toolbox – or a new app for your favourite phone – or a secret button in your car (OK, that last thing doesn’t happen that often). And if you’re always looking for ways of learning languages better – you’ll probably have found the four features I’m going to mention today. In case you didn’t, though, here goes: foreign language learners’ Easter Eggs (sort of)!

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BRAVE Blog

The Linguistics of Melancholy – Memory, Language and Loss

As I’m writing this, I watch the sun rising over my city. I see the roofs change colour and I see thin mist rising over the bay. If I opened the window, I could smell the sea from here.
I’m moving out in less than a week’s time. Which means that – despite my determination to keep coming back to this charming bit of land – there are some things that I’m currently doing for the last time ever.
It’s a powerful feeling, and I’ve noticed that it changes the way you perceive and remember things. Sights, conversations, meals – everything seems to have more value if you know this might be the last occasion for it! This made me wonder – is there a way to tap into this emotional state that would benefit your language learning?
As it turns out, there might be. Read on for a brief discussion of how melancholy impacted memory (several distinguished memories, in fact), how psychology defined what’s going on – and for a few suggestions that could make your everyday language learning a lot more memorable.

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BRAVE Blog

iBooks Author For Languages: 3 Guerrilla Ideas

We’ve had an uneasy relationship, Apple and me. I went from ridiculing every iPod owner to proudly taking my MacBook everywhere I went, only to wonder at the utter uselessness of some of its later incarnations.

But I still know a good idea when I see one. And today, I want to discuss one of those – although probably not the way Apple would like to see it discussed.

Enter iBooks Author.